Employers are making strides to pay workers of all ethnicitiesand genders equitably, according to WorldatWork's Pay Equity Practices and Priorities Survey.

The nonprofit polled more than 350 of its members—compensationmanagers at large employers—and found that a significant majority(79 percent) are now conducting gender pay gap analyses as astandard practice. Nearly the same percentage (71 percent) aremaking broad pay-equity analyses standard practice.

Over half (55 percent) are executing remediation strategies, and52 percent are evaluating their remediation options. Just 9 percentof the respondents say they are not considering doing gender paygap analysis.

Pay equity is becoming increasingly top-of-mind for HRprofessionals, says WorldatWork president and CEO Scott Cawood:"It's not just about salary, though. Organizations are expandingtheir understanding of areas where potential biases or gaps mayexist, and they are working to address issues linked to theconcerns around any personal attribute being used in any processthat ultimately impacts salary, including hiring, promotion, andfeedback systems."

Indeed, the vast majority of respondents are now addressing, orplan to address, pay equity within their recruitment practices (88percent); individual pay determination decisions (83 percent);hiring practices (83 percent); and selection practices (81percent).

However, less attention is currently being paid to determiningwhether there are any pay disparities in healthcare, well-being,and retirement benefits (58 percent); paid time off and flexibilitybenefits (55 percent); and dependent/elder care benefits (35percent).

"While the survey reveals positive movement towards pay-equityremediation, benefits programs are receiving the least amount ofattention when looking for potential biases that may contribute topay disparities," Cawood says.

"Understanding of how benefits programming can skew to attractor serve one group over another is beginning to emerge."

More broadly, in an effort to identify or reduce potentialbiases, respondents are routinely looking at market data (73percent) and re-examining their performance management practices(69 percent).

"The finding about performance management practices isintriguing," Cawood says. "One-third (32 percent) of organizationsare not looking at performance management practices in the contextof pay equity, despite the often subjective nature of thoseprograms."

However, employers need to realize that the level of scrutinyfor all pay-related systems will only increase in the next fewyears, he says.

"In the future, performance management programs will have toadhere to updated frameworks in order to be bias-free," Cawoodsays.

From: BenefitsPro